E is for Education/Elephant - Kent State University

Photo by Bob Christy, ’95
Paimpol, France
David Cunningham, ’99, manager for educational
technology and distance learning in the university’s
Division of Information Services, knew of Berrong’s connection
to Paimpol and his interest in using technology for instruction.
James Raber, ’02, a senior information technology support
analyst, had previously coordinated multiple international
videoconferences with locations including Australia,
England and Taiwan. The two spoke with Berrong about the
possibilities of using new technologies to connect his Kent State
students to France.
“When we first started doing videoconferencing roughly 10
years ago, getting out of Kent State was difficult, expensive or
both,” says Raber. “We were still learning the technology, and the
technology itself was in its infancy, so it got a bad reputation. Now,
the platform is more robust, more flexible and more reliable.”
The equipment expenses have dropped significantly as well.
Cameras that once cost more than $9,000 are now only $700.
The trio admits to hurdles at the beginning. The
Cybercommune in Paimpol is funded by the government, so
resources were limited. The six-hour time difference was
also a consideration.
But trials Berrong conducted while in Paimpol
during the summer of 2007 resolved these challenges. The
videoconferencing project was piloted during Fall Semester
2007 with the French composition class, and then incorporated
into the core curriculum for the spring 2008 French
conversation course.
The result is an unqualified success, Berrong says.
“Brittany is a completely different world from Kent. And the
more real I can make it, the better,” he explains. “If I were to
make huge generalizations, the college generation today is
far more visual than the college generation of my era. This
technology lets me make a text visual.”
In the conversation course, the rewards are even more
apparent. “This is going to be a huge change in the way my
French conversation classes are conducted,” he adds.
“Students actually sit there and talk to French people in the
class rather than practicing conversation with other Americans,
which is artificial.”
Berrong’s students agree. “For my part, it’s a different
atmosphere to be able to hear real French being spoken, to have
a conversation with someone who comes from the area that
you’re studying,” Dolores Elder, a French major, says. “The more
we speak with individuals from the town, the more it enriches
the learning process.”
Paimpol is located on the northwest coast of France, in Bretagne, or Brittany.
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“I can feel myself getting stronger at French,” says Melissa
Teel, also a French major. “I feel more confident each time we
talk to them. I love it.”
“From my perspective — I’m a future teacher — this just
opens all kinds of windows for me … and doors,” Elder adds.
“This is a really good way to learn. I wish when I was going
through university the first time that this opportunity had
been available.”
Berrong admits that the time and planning required for
projects of this type might be reasons more educators have not
embraced the opportunities technology offers for an enhanced
classroom experience. “It takes work. I could teach this course
the way I first started to teach it — you came to class, you had
a book. I could still be doing that.
“I teach completely differently from the way I did when
I started,” Berrong says. “I’ve been a college professor for 30
years now. This is why I get up in the morning, because I can
do new things.”
Raber and Cunningham concur that the technology is
underutilized. “From an educational point of view,
connecting to France weekly is one of our most venturous
projects to date,” says Raber. “Primarily, the technology has
been used to allow students on Regional Campuses to take
classes offered on other Kent State campuses. I could see this
being used more, not just in foreign studies, but in physics, to
allow students to take a virtual field trip to a lab in Switzerland
to see the world’s largest superconducting magnet, or to allow
departments to form relationships with international schools.”
“I don’t see a discipline where this couldn’t be used,”
Cunningham adds. “At its simplest, anyone could bring a guest
speaker into his or her classroom when previously it may not
have been viable. I think you could find an application for
this technology in every field. And because of advances in the
technology, we are more likely to find others with this capability.
“Since we upgraded the system two years ago, we’ve
connected to 15 different countries, and sometimes multiple
locations within a country.”
While Berrong appreciates the effort and ongoing
maintenance needed, to him the outcome is greater than the
sum of its technical parts. “For me, this is still bordering on
magic. To be able to let my students talk to people in France
and see them — it’s not just electricity and computer chips.
There’s an element of magic about it.”
For more information, visit www.kent.edu/magazine.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Richard Berrong
K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y K e n t